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Friday, June 27, 2008

How much wood can a woodpecker peck if a woodpecker could peck wood?

Today I woke up to a loud noise which sounded like the insistent knocking of perhaps an overzealous Jehovah's Witness. I went to the door but there was nobody. I went back upstairs and again, the knocking resumed. Ultimately we discovered the source: a woodpecker having Thanksgiving dinner on our awning, breaking it down one board at a time. After a series of frenzied google searches, we discovered there may be an insect of some sort burrowed in. Our pest people explained this was a sign of carpenter bees. These lovelies boring into our home could cause major problems, had not the woodpecker alerted us to it through its nature.

This reminded me of a beautiful Rumi poem about the inner wisdom of our world. This is a poem about the Prophet trying to put on his shoes [an excerpt]:

"He washed his hands and feet, and just as he reached for his boot, an eagle snatched it away! the boot turned upside down and a poisonous snake dropped out. The eagle circled and brought the boot back... Muhammad thanked the eagle, and said, "What I thought was rudeness was really love. You took away my grief and I was grieved!".. Learn from this eagle that when misfortune comes, you must quickly praise. "

This simply served as a beautiful reminder that sometimes in bad not only may there be good, there may be better. Perhaps the woodpecker pecking away at your awning is making you aware of bigger problems. Its up to us to stop, listen and see.